The Soccer Kick invitational
Being a mixed martial arts referee is the most thankless job in the business. While you get absolutely the best seat in the house, if you do your job perfectly, no one notices you are there. If you do your job poorly, you are cursed at. And if you do your job excellently, you are cursed, too.
No ref in MMA has withstood as much criticism as has Steve Mazzagatti.
Mazzagatti, as a referee? UFC President Dana White said in 2009. This f—ing guy shouldn’t even be watching MMA on TV, let alone refereeing it. I think he’s the worst ref in the history of any fight business, ever. He’s horrible. We don’t pick the refs. The athletic commission does. Those guys are picked by the government. It’s not that I don’t like him, he’s a nice guy. He’s an absolute nice guy, he has no business whatsoever being anywhere near mixed martial arts.
However, on Steve Mazzagatti’s worst day ever, asleep, he would do a far superior job to this guy. Being an MMA ref can be surprisingly physical, so the middleweight shaped (all his weight is in his middle) ref should have had his ass in a seat watching the show, not controlling it.
It was 21 May 1996 at Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighting 2; Rogerio da Silva and Eric Venutti were in a four-man tournament. On the first fight if the evening, Venutti knocked out Francisco Martins at 6:25 (rounds were 10 minutes at this event). Second fight was a decision by da Silva over Jenilson Santos.
The pair got a break while six more fights took place, and then they were brought back for the finals. Da Silva dropped Venutti with a wel timed straight right. Venutti was stretched out insensate. The ref jumped in, and as Venutti could no longer intelligently defend himself, the fight appeared over.
Then the ref indicated the the fight was still on, but Venutti was only just coming to, and could only make it to his knees, eyes turned to floor, doubtless wondering if it was the ceiling.
The ref then waved da Silva in to continue, as a dazed Venutti remained on all fours. Da Silva did as directed, and soccer kicked Venutti square in the face. The prone fighter then went right out, as the ref raised the da Silva’s arm.
This isn’t even the worst ref of all time however.
